


don we now our gay apparel

by reliquiaen



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 00:44:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12971994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reliquiaen/pseuds/reliquiaen
Summary: prompt: Character A loses a bet and has to wear a different ugly Christmas sweater every day till Christmas. Character B works at a clothes store.“I’m the most senior employee in store this afternoon, ma’am,” she says flatly. “So the closest you’ll get to my manager is me.”





	don we now our gay apparel

**Author's Note:**

> everything is gay if trini wears it

“If I have to listen to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer one more time I’m going to choke somebody,” Kimberly groans, leaning heavily across the till. “Probably Todd. It’s his fault.”

Somewhere in the aisle off to her right, Jason laughs. “You don’t mean that. I heard you singing along to Frosty this morning before we opened.”

She levels a heated glare in what she assumes is his direction. “That was _this morning_. It’s been hours of the same dozen songs on repeat. I’m going to break the speakers.”

Jason’s head pops up over a display of t-shirts with Christmas themed patterns. “Todd’ll take that out of your pay,” he warns.

“I know,” she huffs again. “So much for the Christmas rush.”

“God, don’t jinx us, Kimberly,” he laughs. “I kinda like not having to clean up after middle aged mums all damn day.”

“I’ll swap you,” she offers, meaning she’ll take floor if he covers the counter.

Jason hesitates only a moment but it’s long enough that the door chimes, cutting off any potential reply he might’ve had. Kimberly can’t see the door from her spot at the register and she doesn’t look up anyway. She’s just pushing paper clips back and forth across the laminated top when Jason elbows her.

“I’ll take your offer,” he says. “Swap.”

She lifts an eyebrow. Must be another soccer mum come to wreck his displays. “You’re that desperate, huh.” She takes his price scanner though and sidles out from behind the counter, ready to chase the woman from the store if she has to.

Kimberly crosses the floor, eyeing the tops of the stands but even as she sticks her head around every aisle to see where this person is, she can’t find them. Maybe Jason just wanted an excuse to sit on the counter and call Billy. It’s been a slow day.

But then she spots movement by the back wall and she turns. She’s pretty sure they’re not a soccer mum. Short, in a leather jacket and with a yellow beanie pulled right down low over their head.

Kimberly plasters her fake customer service smile on and sucks in a deep breath. “Can I help you?” she asks politely. It’s sorta feigned politeness by this point though. Afternoons are always strained.

The girl’s shoulders tense before she turns; expression completely dead. For her part, Kimberly feels her breath catch and she’s suddenly very glad Jason agreed to swap spots with her. She doesn’t wonder if he knew she’d react like this. He probably did. He’s a jerk.

At first she doesn’t think the girl will respond but then her lips quirk in a wry sort of smile. Kimberly’s heart skips. “Yeah, maybe. Do you guys sell those ugly sweaters here?”

She starts a little, surprised by both the question and her reaction to the smile. “Uh, yeah. This way.” Kimberly leads her across the store to the other corner, about as far away from the door as possible. “You did mean the hideous knitted Christmas things that grandmas want you to wear to family dinners, right?” she asks to be sure, fingers drumming on the wooden edge of the stand.

“Yep. That’s them.”

“Good, yeah. Over here so all the normal people don’t have to look at them.” Her brow scrunches a little in thought. “I don’t know why we even bother keeping them stocked, actually.”

The girl eyes her carefully before she speaks. “So losers like me can acquire them without leaving town.” She seems surprised that she spoke, her lips tightening into a firm line. She looks away from Kimberly and fingers at the displayed sweaters.

Kimberly’s fingers drum once more across the top and then she steps back. “Alright well. Let me know if you need anything else.”

The girl’s gaze flicks back up, sweeps across her in a way that sends a shiver to Kimberly’s toes. “Yeah. Sure.”

She wanders off into one of the aisles, pretending to straighten out a display that Jason has no doubt already adjusted fifteen times that day. Her attention isn’t really on what she’s doing though, one eye following the girl’s progress through the neatly folded sweaters. Kimberly has no idea what she could possibly want with them, they all clash horribly (the ones Billy had told Jason they couldn’t put on display because they hurt his eyes).

Jason would be glad to know that she folds the rejected sweaters back into a square before moving on. She shakes out a bright orange sweater and tilts her head to the side, mouth pursed. Kimberly can tell she sucks in a deep breath from the way her shoulders left and then she’s turning.

Fast enough to look forced, Kimberly pretends to be doing something else. The first thing her hands land on is a collared shirt with the collar all sticking up stupidly and she figures that will do.

“Hey. Do you have dressing rooms here or are we just supposed to eyeball it?”

When Kim turns to regard her customer there’s something witty on her tongue about things she likes to eyeball but the vaguely annoyed expression stops her from letting it spill forth.

“Uh, yeah,” she says instead. “Just off to the left there.” She waves a hand in the direction she means and the girl swivels to follow the gesture, bobbing her head when she sees it.

“Cool.”

As soon as she’s gone, Kimberly hightails it back to the counter. She’s ready to lay a few words on Jason but he’s vacated his post. He must have ducked into the staff room while she wasn’t looking. Typical.

Suits her just fine though as she sweeps back behind the till. For a while she just busies herself with making sure the computer’s on and working and all the systems are running how they should. Idle work really, Billy would never let the systems go down, and he doesn’t even work there.

Her attention is disrupted when that same orange monstrosity is dropped on the counter beside her.

Kimberly feels her eyebrow lift without permission. “You’re actually buying it?” She’s incredulous but yeah well within reason.

The girl rummages in her knapsack and comes up with a twenty. “Got no choice,” she grumbles. “This better satisfy him.” The last is tacked on so quietly that Kimberly doesn’t think she was meant to hear.

She doesn’t press, just rings it up, exchanging the twenty for a handful of change. Kimberly takes a little longer to bag it just because she’s trying to think of something to say, even though beanie girl doesn’t seem interested in a conversation.

She tucks the receipt into the plastic and settles for, “You’ll look better in it than anyone else I know.”

Beanie girl gives her a look that says flat out ‘you’re completely insane this would look hideous on the hottest person alive’ and yeah, she’s probably not far wrong really. Kimberly just smiles at her and she shuffles out.

Like he has some kind of _radar_ , Jason scoots up beside her wearing a broad grin. “Have fun?”

“She was really cute.” That’s not what Kimberly means to say, something more along the lines of ‘shut your face, Scott’ would’ve been better but okay, sure.

He hums. “You get her number?”

She smacks his arm and goes back to fiddling with paper clips. She should’ve gotten her number.

 

\--

 

“Beanie Girl is back,” Billy calls softly from two aisles over. He’s colour coordinating their line of overcoats again. Some mother had come through and her _precious little bean_ had destroyed everything. She hadn’t even apologised. Bitch.

(Honestly, they really need to put Billy on the pay roll as some kinda honorary employee.)

She hisses at him though, hoping he wasn’t loud enough to have been heard over the still repeating Christmas soundtrack Todd was enforcing.

He sticks his head around the end of the aisle, his nice blue turtleneck with the sleeves pushed to the elbows in the store’s heating. ‘Sorry,’ he mouths at her before returning to what he was doing.

The day had been busy, but this close to closing Kimberly feels pretty confident that no one will need the register for a few minutes. She slips down an aisle of pants that she makes a mental note to come and reorganise later and steps cautiously out the other side. Beanie Girl – as Jason had so fondly dubbed her yesterday afternoon as he filled Billy in on what had happened – hasn’t appeared yet.

Kimberly’s eyes catch on one of the freestanding racks and she clucks her tongue at all the shirts hanging on the wrong lines or in an order not easily conducive to finding one’s size. She huffs as she begins to rearrange the hangars. How goddamn hard can it possibly be to slide the purple size fourteen hangars back together? Honestly. The sooner she graduated and could stop working in customer service the better.

“Hey.”

The soft voice makes her whirl and yeah, sure enough, it’s Beanie Girl. The same yellow beanie is pulled down around her ears but she’s actually _wearing_ the monstrous orange sweater from the day before.

“Hey yourself,” Kim replies. She makes no effort to hide her gaze as it sweeps from Beanie Girl’s heavy black boots up her skinny jeans, skates past the sweater and lands on her face. She doesn’t conceal it, but Beanie Girl doesn’t seem to notice anyway. “It’s not as bad as I was fearing, honestly.”

Beanie Girl’s brow creases in confusion until Kim gestures at the sweater. “Oh. No it’s disgusting.”

“Then you’re back over by the Ugly Sweater Bin because you…?”

She sighs heavily, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans and Kim completely; one hundred percent fails not to stare. “Need another one. Or five maybe.” Beanie Girl’s mouth tightens and she looks at the stand with such loathing that Kim actually feels her stomach lurch.

“What about something not quite as awful?” Beanie Girl lifts an eyebrow in askance but her expression otherwise remains neutral. “Billy!”

“Yes?”

“Your sweater display have anything that’s not hideous but isn’t super great either?”

There’s silence for a moment during which Beanie Girl regards her quietly and Kimberly stares back chewing her lower lip. She expects Beanie Girl to look away, fidget, shuffle her feet, something to indicate she’s uncomfortable. Nothing.

Kim’s a pretty good judge of people, but Beanie Girl is inscrutable.

Billy pops out around the aisle with a sweater in each hand. “I wasn’t sure how almost-hideous you wanted. This is as close as I’m willing to go without sewing actual pom poms to the breast. This one is a little more moderate in colour but still has the irritating pattern.”

He holds one – the first – a dark red with gaudy green and yellow patterns that Kimberly feels should definitely have been thrown in the Awful™ pile when he sorted but okay. The other is yeah, more moderate, a soft green – still just too bright to be conservative – but with a less clashing palette of accents.

Beanie Girl contemplates them both for a moment and reaches for the latter. She checks the size tag, thanks Billy softly and heads towards the front of the shop.

“If you don’t get her number,” Billy stage whispers after her as Kim follows, “At least try for her name.”

She rolls her eyes theatrically at him but she spends the whole time she’s ringing the not-as-ugly sweater up wondering how she can possibly get that information without seeming like a creep.

“Do you work here every day?” Beanie Girl asks softly, eyes watching Kim’s fingers on the computer screen.

“Every afternoon until closing,” she explains. “Seven days a week. I’ve got classes in the morning. Except for right now, obviously, because it’s holidays.” She pauses a moment and then adds, “Do you have any particular love for Christmas sweaters?”

“Oh yeah,” Beanie Girl drawls. “They make or break a festive season.”

It’s evasive but Kim laughs anyway. It really _wouldn’t_ be festive without them, she thinks. Instead of saying something else she just hands Beanie Girl her bag and mutters, “Have a good afternoon.”

Beanie Girl waves a sort of mock salute as she exits.

Billy is standing at her elbow wearing a judgemental frown. “You’re bad at this,” he tells her flatly. “Jason said you were good at charming people but we’re still going to have to call her Beanie Girl.”

“Sorry Billy, just not my day.”

She wonders if she’ll have another day to try.

 

\--

 

She _does_.

Beanie Girl arrives fifteen minutes to closing while Kim is sweeping dirt out the side door. She’s alone today, Jason went home early feeling ill. He hadn’t wanted to, but Kim had promised she could hold her own for the last hour, even with a potential Christmas rush.

Her ears go red though when she sees Beanie Girl wander up the aisle with her bottom lip caught between her teeth and an absent frown on her face. Her hands are tucked into the pockets of the leather jacket she’d worn the first day but it doesn’t hide the orange sweater underneath. A plastic bag dangles at her side, sticking out from where she’s probably holding on in her pocket.

Something in her eyes flickers when she realises Kim’s staring.

“My friends all call you Beanie Girl,” Kim calls quietly.

Her eyebrow curves in a flawless arch but there’s an amused quirk to her lips. “You told your friends about me?”

Kim scoffs but it’s strangled. “Jason was here the first day you came in and Billy picked the sweaters yesterday.” Her voice is tight all through the explanation and Kim hopes she doesn’t notice. “I’m Kim.”

“I can read,” she says, it’s still amused. Beanie Girl lifts a finger and Kimberly remembers her uniform shirt has her name sewn on the left breast.

“Oh.” Beanie Girl walks past her towards the ugly sweater stand again. “Right. Yesterday’s sweater wasn’t bad enough?”

“Apparently not.” She shuffles the bag. “Was told to return this one and get a different one.”

“Harsh.” Kim sidles up beside her at the bin. “So the more outrageous the better?”

“Yep.”

Kim lifts one with poorly stitched Mr and Mrs Claus on it, all in vibratingly clashing reds and greens. It should be burned.

Beanie Girl regards it a moment and then nods. She scoops another one – vibrant blue with purple and red – up as well. She takes only a moment to check the tags before heading for the counter. Kim wonders if she’s really good at getting something her size or if she just doesn’t care.

“Two’s a commitment,” Kim teases lightly as she scans them.

“And three’s a crowd,” Beanie Girl sallies back.

Kimberly takes her time handing the bag over. “I hope these ones don’t disappoint.” Only maybe she does. Will Beanie Girl be back if they’re acceptable?

She rolls her eyes and takes the bag, apparently not bothered when their hands brush. Kim wishes she could say the same.

Beanie Girl is two steps away when she turns to look back, still moving towards the door. “I’m Trini,” she says only _just_ loud enough for Kim to hear.

Then she’s gone.

Kim’s smiling though.

 

\--

 

“I got her name,” Kim sings the next afternoon as she swings through the staff room door to find Jason slipping his work shirt over his head.

“Knock much?” he asks, voice muffled.

“Oh please.”

His head pokes through the collar, hair all ruffled now. “So what is it?”

“Trini.”

“Her number?”

Kimberly’s face scrunches up unhappily. “Yeah, not so lucky there.”

He leans past her to grab his scanner off the table. “And you think you’re gonna have more chances because…?”

She huffs at him, following as he walks into the store proper. They’re just in time to wave as Michelle and Gabby call goodbyes and exit – their shifts over now. Kimberly stops at the register, punching in her details to log it in. A sticky note is tacked to the top border that says ‘check the mannequins by the window’ in Gabby’s gorgeous cursive. She snatches it up and slaps it against Jason’s chest.

“I _don’t_ expect more chances,” she finally admits in a quiet grumble. “But I can’t just say ‘hey you’re cute let’s get coffee’ can I?”

He pulls the sticky note off his shirt, reads it, crumples it up and tosses it at her head. “Well why not?”

“Because that would be _weird_.”

He makes a sound in the back of his throat that sounds a lot like disbelief. “You’re making up excuses, I think.”

Kimberly grabs the sticky note and throws it back at him. “I am not. I don’t wanna be a weirdo.”

Jason leans forward on the balls of his toes. “You must really like her if you’re being this shy about it.”

“I don’t _know_ her, you dipstick,” she huffs.

“You could if you asked her out,” he sing songs, dancing out of reach as she swats at him.

“Go fix the mannequins.”

He laughs uproariously as he crosses the floor. A couple of the customers nearby glance up. One guy with a mess of dark hair and shoulders like an ox gives Kimberly a long look and she pointedly ignores him. She can still see the guy smiling at her though.

For a while Kimberly keeps herself occupied with the computer. Billy had shown her how to update the spreadsheets for stocktaking and she finds that much more exciting to fiddle with than standing around waiting for customers. Also this way she can leave the older lady to bother Jason. He’s cute; all the women like to bother him.

She gets shanghaied into helping one lady find pants though.

“We don’t have any out the back,” Kimberly tells her patiently.

“You haven’t checked,” the woman insists. “You might. Could I get you to just look? It can’t hurt.”

Kimberly does her best not to sigh _too_ obviously as she nods her head. She keeps her eye roll to herself safely in the store room. There is nothing there, she knows this, quantities on hand are on the stock list. The one she went through with Billy just last week.

Still she runs her fingers along the racks until she finds the pants the lady was looking at and thumbs through the hangers. As she suspects, there aren’t any in the size-colour combination she was after.

She squares her shoulders and steps back out onto the floor – pausing in the doorway only for a second to check the time – and braces to hear what new insults the woman can hide behind thin platitudes.

“I’m sorry,” she repeats. “We don’t have any.”

“Did you even look?” the woman huffs. “I’m fairly sure you people don’t even check. Do you have a manager here I can speak with?”

“I’m the most senior employee in store this afternoon, ma’am,” she says flatly. “So the closest you’ll get to my manager is me.”

The woman clucks her tongue, displeased, muttering about how unprofessional this all is. (And yeah, Todd should be there, but he’s notoriously absent from the store.) She still makes Kimberly ring up her other items. She also insists she has a loyalty card that she must have left at home and that she should get a discount or something if only Kim would look her up in the system. They _don’t_ have a loyalty card and Kim tells her this four or five times before she just pays and leaves.

Honestly. That one interaction is enough to completely sap Kim’s normally plentiful reservoirs of patience.

Jason offers her a commiserating pat on the back as he walks past to get a drink in the staff room and she just – ugh – slumps a little across the countertop chin cupped in the palm of her hand, elbow supporting more of her weight than it probably should.

That guy from before stops at her counter to flirt with her as he buys a thick woollen coat. He doesn’t seem to know how to take a hint and the only thing that moves him along is the guy in the army slacks in line behind him and the stern look on his face.

Then it’s just Kim and Jason in the store for half an hour. She wonders if maybe he was right and Trini won’t be back and she should’ve just asked for her number when she had the chance. The door chimes and she looks up hopefully but it’s not Trini. The woman who walks in looks around for ten minutes and leaves without purchasing anything.

She huffs into her palm and closes her eyes.

Jason leans into the counter on the other side, eyes towards the door, arms folded. They’re silent for a while. Jason’s fingers tap against his opposite bicep, keeping tune with the carols _still_ playing the store’s speakers.

“Looks like you might’ve missed your shot, Hart,” he says softly.

She grunts at him and they lapse back to silence.

The door chimes again (and it’s gotta be like two minutes to closing). She doesn’t open her eyes, not even when she feels Jason lean away.

“Chase them off for me, Jason,” she grumbles.

She can hear him chuckling so she opens one eye to glare up at him but he’s moved off. In his place is Trini.

Kimberly lurches upright. “Hi,” she says and it’s not her fake customer voice but it’s something equally awful. “Another ugly sweater?”

Trini’s got the blue one from yesterday on under her leather jacket and her hands tucked safely in the pockets. Her eyes don’t seem able to rest on Kim long before they skitter away. “Uh, yeah,” she says. “Wondered if you could help me pick some out?”

“Only if you tell me why you’re trying to buy all our ugly sweaters,” Kim counters, already leading the way back to the trash bin.

Trini’s quiet for such a long moment that Kim’s sure she won’t get an answer. Then, “Lost a bet,” she says shortly. They reach the bin at the back and start sifting through it before Trini continues. “It was stupid. I bet my friend he couldn’t beat some girl at beer pong and still get her number. Loser had to wear ugly Christmas sweaters. A different one every day until Christmas.”

Kimberly laughs softly. “Sorry. That is stupid. And expensive.”

“Yeah. I made him go halves with me on the cost, plus I already had some.”

“I take it he wants the worst of the worst then. That’s why you had to return that one.”

“Yep. He’s a jerk.”

Kimberly debates for a second before saying, “Well I’m glad you lost.” It’s soft, she doesn’t know if she hopes Trini doesn’t hear her.

She does, if the way she glances up, looks Kimberly over is any indication. If the way her eyes drop, just for a fraction of a second, away from her eyes is any indication.

“How many more do you need?” Kim asks hoping to ignore the previous comment.

Trini shrugs. “Four or five.”

“I’ll give you my staff discount,” Kim tells her without looking up from the pile. “Thirty percent off.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know. But I’m going to.”

Trini gives her a funny look. It does something to Kim’s insides. They slosh about uncomfortably and she feels all warm down low in her gut. Her lungs get all tight too, like there’s not enough oxygen in the store all of a sudden. She’s alarmingly aware of the speakers playing more carols above her.

 _Deck the halls with boughs of holly_ , it sings. _Tis the season to be jolly_.

She lifts a sweater decorated – appropriately – with holly and mistletoe. Kimberly holds it up as if imagining Trini wearing it and gets an eye roll in response.

“This looks like barf,” she says, her voice softer than she means it to be and she can’t quite work moisture into her mouth.

Trini looks to be having a similar problem; she opens and closes her mouth a few times before speaking. “Perfect then.” She’s holding onto one with lopsided snowmen in a questionable orange thread so hard her knuckles have gone white.

“How many are you taking tonight?” she asks, still quiet.

“Um. Two more.” They’re fairly silent as Trini sifts through them, being picky about what qualifies for her friend.

Kim is honestly surprised that the quiet isn’t strained, she feels like it should be. The only moment of tension is when she and Trini both reach for the same gaudy sweater with little pom poms sewn onto the front to function as the little fairy lights wound around awful block text all in different fonts it looks like. Trini keeps her focus on spreading the sweater out and making thoughtful sounds about it but there’s pink dusting her cheek and nose and Kimberly can’t stop staring.

They do make it back to the register eventually, Trini with her five sweaters and Kim with a heart thudding so hard she’s actually worried about her ribs breaking. Jason is surreptitiously sweeping the space near the door and doesn’t look over at them.

Kimberly scans the sweaters slowly, tucking them into the bags with more care than they deserve. Trini watches Kim’s hands move and Kim can’t stop staring at her eyes. Her heart is screaming that this could be the last time she sees Trini, if this is all the sweaters she needs and Monday is Christmas Day. She probably won’t have any reason to come in again.

Her mouth can’t form the words to ask for her number, to ask her out, ask her anything. It’s like her faculties have forgotten how to use words. What are those again?

Trini’s chewing on her lip when Kim folds the receipt into the bag and passes it to her. Their hands brush again and Trini’s eyes skitter off to one side. It’s like at long last there are cracks in her otherwise implacable façade. Kim wonders what would happen if she could just get through it entirely, if she only had the _time_ to do that.

“Happy holidays,” Kim says softly as Trini takes the bag.

Her eyes lift once more – fleetingly – and she says, “Yeah. You too,” before disappearing into the night.

Kim stares after her for a long, long moment and then groans, her head falling to the counter with a loud thump.

Across the store where Jason is locking the front door, he says, “You are the most useless bi in the world.”

She silently lifts her middle finger at him.

 

\--

 

Trini doesn’t appear in the store the next day.

Even though Kim spends the day reflexively (and hopefully) looking at the door every time it makes the little chime to announce customers. The bell wasn’t even normally there. Todd put it up as a little extra festive touch.

Kim wants to rip it down.

 

\--

 

She isn’t there the day after either. Kimberly quickly gets sick of the looks Jason shoots her but it’s pretty easy to ignore them.

She spends the last hour of their shift doing the readings she’d neglected earlier in the week because she was too busy thinking about Trini. For once it’s a good thing that Todd never shows up to perform his managerial duties because it means she can sit at the register without fear of being caught. It’s also a good thing that her work load is pretty light at the moment.

 

\--

 

Still, Kimberly takes the next day off to do some catch up work for her classes. Jason’s tone on the phone is quietly judgemental but he can’t exactly argue with her.

She gets distracted a lot thinking about missing opportunities to date cute girls instead of her law theory.

So who can blame her?

 

\--

 

Billy’s wearing fake antlers on his head.

“Hey, Kim,” he says cheerfully.

“Hi, Billy,” she replies without looking up from her screen. “This spreadsheet you put together is great. Do you know how easy it is now to turn soccer mums away because it’s not on here? You’re brilliant.”

He makes a spluttering sound, unsure what to say. “It was my pleasure,” he eventually manages. “How come you’re not wearing the antlers?”

She does look up at that. “What?”

“Jason said there were antlers in the staff room this morning and everyone has to wear them.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “Whose are you wearing?”

She’s pretty sure he blushes. “Jason’s.”

“Okay, well then I’m pretty sure it’s not compulsory and I’m not getting them now.”

“Okay.” He pauses. “Beanie Girl wasn’t here yesterday either. I didn’t know if you cared or not.”

She sighs. “It’s okay, Billy. Thanks. I don’t think she’s coming back.”

He hums. “Do you mind if I rearrange the coats over there?” he asks, already walking away, knowing her response.

“Go for it.”

It’s really quiet today and Kim can’t fathom why. They should be swamped in last minute Christmas shoppers but they’re not and she’s grateful. Maybe they all came through in the morning; afternoons do tend to be slower for whatever reason.

Billy leaves a few hours before their shift ends as is his right. Jason gives her puppy dog eyes for twenty minutes afterwards until she caves and all but kicks him out the door. He has some last minute shopping of his own to do because boys are great like that and he has to get there before stores close tonight or he probably won’t get the chance and _thanks Kim you’re the best_.

There’s still about an hour left when she shuffles to the front door and flips the open sign to closed (but she’s not allowed to lock it yet more’s the pity) and hoists herself up onto the counter. She leans back on her hands listening to the carols and looking forward to when they have more than the same fourteen songs to play. It gets beyond boring. She knows every word to every last one of them.

She closes her eyes and sings along to a few of them; louder than she normally allows herself since the shop is empty and the mall outside is pretty close to as well.

“Because here is where you’re finding me,” she sings, “in the exact same place as New Year’s Eve; and from the lack of my persistency, we’re less than half as close as I want to be.”

The chime above the door tinkles but she ignores it. Could just be Jason coming back to say goodnight, or maybe it’s actually a shopper but she’s not even close to in the mood. If she ignores them they’ll go away. Maybe file a complaint with Todd but that’s unlikely.

“Wow.”

She snaps upright, eyes widening.

Trini is standing in the shop, leather jacket over a red plaid shirt tonight rather than one of her ugly sweaters. Her eyes are just a little wide staring at Kim and her feet shuffle.

“Hi,” Kim says.

“Hey. You sing.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s pretty.”

Kim swallows hard. “So are you.”

Pink rises in Trini’s cheeks. She doesn’t speak so Kim slides off the counter and steps towards her. Overhead the speakers are playing ‘Deck the Halls’ again.

“No ugly sweater tonight?”

“Made a new bet with my friend,” Trini says softly. “To free me from the suffering.”

Kim tilts her head and braves another step, she’s well within Trini’s personal space she’s sure but to her credit she doesn’t flinch. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” She stuffs her hands into her jacket pockets and Kim wonders if it’s to hide some kind of nervous fidget. “He told me I’d never get your number and I said if I do then I get to stop wearing the sweaters.”

Kimberly’s lips curl in a crooked smile. “Oh really. You pegged this all on me. How sweet.”

Trini rolls her eyes. “Yeah well at least this time if I fail I’ll have all the sweaters I need.”

“You won’t fail.”

Trini’s eyes land on her face and she twitches just slightly. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kimberly reaches out slowly and latches onto the pocket of Trini’s coat, drawing her just a little closer. “Give me your phone.”

Trini’s gaze doesn’t waver at all as she pulls her phone from her back pocket and hands it to Kim. For her part, Kim has to watch as she inputs the numbers and she hates it so, so much. When she’s done and looking up again, Trini’s got her lip between her teeth again and Kim’s fingers linger on her wrist as she reclaims her phone.

“In fact,” Kim says lowly. “I’ll even do you one better than just my number.”

Trini holds up a hand. “I’m not having Christmas with your folks.”

Kim laughs and is delighted when Trini smiles with her. “Actually I was just going to ask if I could kiss you.”

“Oh.” Trini’s red again. “Yeah. That you can do.”

So Kim tugs her in by the jacket and does just that. Trini has to tile her head a little but her hands leave their pockets and wind into the hem of Kim’s work shirt, the backs of her fingers brushing against the skin of her stomach and leaving fire in their wake.

Kimberly’s hands slide up until they’re working under Trini’s staple beanie and pushing it off so she can thread her fingers through her hair, holding it loosely so it doesn’t hit the floor. Trini makes a sound in her throat that might be disapproval but she doesn’t pull away. Actually she keeps trying to pull Kim closer and at this point that’s pretty much impossible. Like physics is Billy’s thing but yeah, Kim’s fairly sure she’s right here.

When Kim finally leans back Trini licks her lips and her eyes – lidded – drop to her mouth. So Kim rocks forward to kiss her again, slow and sure and careful and Trini sighs.

They’re both smiling when they part again and Kim hums. “Maybe that was worth the wait.”

Trini’s mouth twists a little. “What’s that mean?”

“It means I really regretted not asking you out the other night and then I didn’t see you for three days.” Kim shrugs. “Thought I’d missed my shot.”

Trini rolls her eyes. “Psh. As if.”

Kim grins at her, bright and wide. “Really?”

“You’re pretty memorable,” Trini admits, a little grudgingly Kim thinks. She steps away though. “I have to go or I’ll miss the bus.” She looks like taking the next few paces away is the last thing she wants to do. “I’ll call you.”

“You better,” Kim laughs.

Trini smiles again and it’s this soft sort of thing, pleased and maybe not really used to it. “Alright.”

Then she’s disappearing again though not without several backwards glances and a kinda dopey smile. Kim can relate. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to shake it for a few days at least.

She goes back to locking up the store once Trini is out of sight but barely gets through closing the shutters and flicking the lights off before she gets a text. Her phone says the number is unknown but she can tell it’s Trini.

 _You have my beanie, don’t you_.

Kim dithers over a reply for a second before settling for, _Insurance, to make sure I see you again_.

She gets an eyeroll emoji and, _You will_.

Suddenly she’s not so bothered by the ‘come on it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you’ playing over the speakers.


End file.
